RFA Upnor

NAV Upnor

Into Service:                           

Out of service:                               Sold out of service 5 September 1951
Fate:                                       

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

Background Data:  One of a group of nine coasters which were not normally classed as RFA’s although some, on making deep sea passages, had a proportion of RFA Officers among their complement. They are included here as the ancestors of the more modern ammunition ships

30 March 1899 Launched by  J.McArthur & Co., Paisley as Yard Nr 125 named UPNOR. Named after Upnor Castle on the Medway near Rochester

28 June 1899 completed

1918 Captain E A Mathews was Master

2 April 1922 while on passage from Haul-bowline Dockyard, Ireland to Devonport was seized by armed dissident members of Irish Republican Army who managed to get on board by trick when she was 35 miles off Cork Harbour. Diverted to Ballycottin Bay which had been barricaded. 381 rifles, 727 revolvers, 33 Lewis machine guns, 6 Maxim guns and 25,000 rounds of ammunition and a small quantity of explosives were stolen. The ship was then released with her crew proceeding to sea and their subsequent recapture by the naval sloop HMS Heather

31 October 1928 Captain W Fisher appointed in command

16 August 1933 Captain W E Truscott appointed in command

1 August 1938 Captain T C Deans appointed in command

21 December 1942 sailed Lyness

6 February 1943 Captain W H Prail appointed in command

5 September 1951 purchased by Dashwood & Cartner Ltd.

1952 deleted from the Register

Notes: